Monthly Archives: March 2011

In our April 2011 NAB Edition, which goes live on April 11, Film and Digital Times takes a look at the title sequence of the underwater 3D film, Dolphin Tale, which used a Zuccarini Watershot LLC Underwater Housing with a Paradise FX Corp 3D mirror rig and two 4K RED cameras inside. There is lots of practical how-to advice from underwater cinematographer… read more…

FDTimes April 2011 double issue 41-42 hits the halls of NAB on opening day: at 9 am on Monday April 11, 2011. Pick up your complimentary copy of Film and Digital Times from the publication bins in the Central Hall Main Lobby and South Hall Upper Lobby, at our booth C9550, and at the booths of our sponsors, including Sony, Fujinon,… read more…

Visit Film and Digital Times at NAB – Booth C9550. Our Special NAB April Edition will be in publication bins everywhere and at our booth C9550. Drop off your business card to win a complimentary year-long subscription to FDTimes paper edition. You’ll find us across from Cooke Optics and P+S Technik. Zacuto, Ikonscop, ZEISS, and Vision Research are neighbors. We’re… read more…

Sony’s new HXR-NX70 is a water, spray and sand resistant NXCAM camcorder every documentary or news crew has wanted for years: the first Broadcast and Industrial grade rain-proof, spray-resistant, dust-proof, sand-proof camera. I heard that the networks were influential in development—this was a camera they really wanted. I want one too. The sensor is 1/2.88”. The wide-angle 10x zoom is the… read more…

Jim Pfeiffer is an award-winning writer and producer with 30 years experience in film and video production. He currently teaches broadcast production at the University of New Hampshire, and continues to freelance as a writer, producer, editor and camera operator for corporations, educational institutions, government agencies and news organizations. This review is by Jim Pfeiffer. REVIEW of Rebel Without A Deal… read more…

What can we say about Sony’s new NEX-FS100U NXCAM Super35? How about “best design of a digital camera this year in a tiny package under $7,000?” It fits in the palm of your hand, feels like a Hasselblad, has the same 35mm sensor as the F3, and accepts almost any lens in the universe with its Sony E mount. It looks… read more…

Dorian Weber shoots for Film and Digital Times in Tokyo. We were in Akasaka last week. I was a lucky one–returning to New York a few days before the terrible earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Here is Dorian’s report. March 11: Be glad youre not here. 8.9 shock and then to be on the 34th floor…not good. March 11, 3 pm EST: 5… read more…

Next stop in Tokyo: Fujilm Optical Devices for a tour of their high-end cine and broadcast lens manufacturing facility. But first, a detour with their magnificent, just-released Fujifilm X100. Picture at top, shot at magic hour in Tokyo: f/2.8 at 1/420 sec, 200 ISO. Some day all viewfinders will be like this. Fujifilm developed a new Hybrid Viewfinder. It… read more…

Time for some seriously, non-official, pre-announcement, highly speculative math excercises. Many astute readers have been emailing or posting the big question, “How can the new Sony CineAlta Camera be 16:9 and greater than 4K when its pixel count is 8K x 2K? 8 x 2 is like a super wide-screen 4:1 format, isn’t it?” No. After spending time with some… read more…

Hot on the trail of Sony’s F3, NXCAM 35, and new >4K camera sensors, we fly one and a half hours south from Tokyo to Sony’s Image Sensor Fab Factory in Kumamoto. A short, 15 minute drive from the airport through fields of green tea that look like rows of pixels, we arrive at two massive buildings over 42,000 square… read more…

The melodrama was maximum on some websites that picked up my earlier post about Sony’s new >4K camera. I called it a Game Changer. They cranked up the noise, and talked about “gauntlets” being thrown, “stakes” being driven, “lines” drawn somewhere–maybe the sand. Someone said they saw a Palindramatic metaphor about targets, but I suspect it as an unconfirmed sighting. All… read more…

It became very clear after two days of discussions with Sony’s leading talent that 4K and more is coming very quickly. Sony’s theme at NAB 2011 will be life beyond HD. More than 5,000 screens of 30,000 in the USA are now using Sony 4K digital projectors. At Sony’s Atsugi Tech Center, we saw the new SR Memory Cards, capable… read more…

The memory most remembered at NAB will be SR Memory Cards. About the size and shape of an iPhone, these solid start storage devices will initially come in 256 GB, 512 GB, and 1 TB sizes. They will be capable of a sustained data rate of 5 Gbps. They contain internal memory controller chips and circuits. Data security is top… read more…

This is like an episode of the TV show “Amazing Race.” Rush hour in Tokyo. Racing through Shinagawa station, with three minutes before the “Romance Car” departs. Sony’s Atsugi Tech Center was established in 1960 for research and development. It’s an hour southwest of Tokyo, near the famous temple of Kamakura. The quick, clean and comfortable “Romance Car” train gets… read more…

Sony’s NXCAM design group has been busy. They showed us 2 addtional new compact camcorders to be shown at NAB. We’ll have to wait until NAB to reveal the real names. Water, spray and sand resistant NXCAM camcorder Sailors and sailing coaches around the world will rejoice. This is the first Broadcast and Industrial grade dust-proof, sand-proof, rain-proof and spray-resistant camcorder…. read more…

Additional astonishing announcements at Atsugi, Japan, where we’re visiting Sony’s Tech Center. The team behind Sony’s NXCAM 35 camcorder wins our praise for one of the most refreshing and well-executed designs this year. Production models of Sony’s NXCAM 35 will be shown at NAB. The first mock-ups were shown in New York and LA on November 17, 2010. Pictures will… read more…

The bar has been raised again. Sony is planning to show the prototype of a new >4K motion picture camera at NAB 2011. This could be historic. We’re an hour southwest of Tokyo at Sony’s Tech Center in Atsugi. No pictures allowed, but we spent time with the development team and executives involved in this latest addition to the Sony CineAlta… read more…

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